HMV insists it will survive after poor sales over Christmas

HMV‘s chief executive has insisted that its future is secure, despite admitting that sales over the Christmas period were “disappointing”.

The high street retailer posted half-year losses of £36.4 million just before Christmas and is currently attempting to sell off its live music division HMV Live, which runs venues such as London Hammersmith Apollo and Kentish Town Forum. It has sold off both Waterstones and HMV Canada during the last 12 months.

Sales across the firm’s 252 stores were down by 8.1% percent during the Christmas period when compared with the same period in 2010 and this was despite the chain having the boost of an extra day’s trading as Christmas Day fell on a Sunday.

HMV chief executive Simon Fox, who described the company’s Christmas figures as “disappointing”, told the Guardian: “Undoubtedly trading conditions and the consumer environment remain challenging, but we remain confident in HMV’s future prospects and that it will be around for some time to come.”

The company did post hopeful figures in the sales of technological products such as tablet computers, headphones and MP3 players, with sales up 51% from the same period in 2010. HMV has begun to focus on products such as this as well as video games to counteract falling DVD and CD sales.